Memorials of Connecticut Judges and Attorneys
As Printed in the Connecticut Reports
volume 50, page(s) 620-622

OBITUARY NOTICE OF ROGER AVERILL

Roger Averill was born in Salisbury, in this state, on the 14th of August,
1809. He came of good New England stock, of hard-working, God-fearing ancestors,
among whom were some of the earliest settlers of the state. His grand-parents,
Samuel Averill and John Whittlesey, were natives of Washington, Conn., from
which town his parents, Nathaniel P. Averill and Mary Whittlesey, removed to
Salisbury in 1805.

One of a family of seven children, reared on a small farm, his education had
of course to be mainly of his own earning. By the aid of the common school and a
public library, by farming in summer and teaching in winter, he prepared for
college under the guidance of his brother Chester, a much esteemed professor in
Union College, and was graduated from that institution with honor in 1832.

Of the early surroundings of the two brothers, and the inspiring influences
of the old homestead, Prof. Reid gives a pleasant picture in his discourse on
the character of the elder brother. Their boyhood was spent in the picturesque
valley of Wetogue, on the bank, of the Housatonic, near the blue hills of
Berkshire. The paternal acres were bounded by the beautiful Twin Lakes and the
meadow-bordered river. A fairer spot there is not in the state, and the home was
a jewel worthy of its setting. Here the sons grew up helpful, thoughtful and
conscientious. Their mother's long life of cheerful activity and bright
intelligence was a constant benediction of sunshine and gentleness. Their
father's generous good-fellowship and racy shrewdness would afford another of
the thousand refutations of the popular modern misconception of the
old-fashioned Puritan. Around such a hearth clustered all social, domestic and
patriotic virtues. The characters launched from such beginnings were not to be
stranded on the shallows of dissipation or idleness.

The subject of this sketch was admitted to the bar in 1837, after studying
law with Judge (afterward Chief Justice) Church, in his native town, where he
opened a law office, after teaching in its academy. In 1849 he removed to
Danbury, and at once attained a wide and successful practice.

Of fine personal appearance with a ceremonious courtliness of the old
school-a ready man of business, industrious by instinct, sound of judgment, and
careful in advice, seizing and presenting in a effective way the strong points
of a case to a jury, and securing in the confidence of the court by the general
justness of his legal propositions, he always stood well in the ranks of his
profession, to which he was greatly attached, and whose honor and welfare no one
had more nearly at heart. A man of instant impressiveness, his native power was
constrained by a caution so guarded and ingrained that he sometimes failed to
give in expression the full force of his thought. His methodical mind, rarely
disturbed by the flashes of impulse, loved the best the safety of considered
courses and predetermined conclusions. But his formalism was based on the wisdom
of experience, and his sense of justice was often a match for the most erudite
opponent. Wary, and slow to begin litigation, when war was once declared he
fought to the last battle of his clients, as many a report of re-contested cases
bears witness. Conservative by nature, and apt to keep his own secrets well, he
was open, candid and thorough in his dealings with his clients, whose life-long
fealty he grappled to himself with "hooks of steel," when they realized the
virtue of his wise and peace-loving counsels.

In the public service he filled many functions, beginning with all the
various and useful apprenticeships of the country lawyer. As town clerk, judge
of probate, school visitor, trustee of the State Normal School, member of the
State Board of Education, member of the Legislature, presiding officer in the
Senate, and in other offices of trust, he discharged his official and fiduciary
duties with acceptance.

It was his good fortune to be of good service to the republic in its peril.
In the spring of 1861 he was as prominent a leader of the political party which
opposed the election of President Lincoln as any in western Connecticut.
Constitutionally cautious as he was, the instant the news came of the assault on
Fort Sumpter, he hastened to fling his flag to the April breeze, first of his
townsmen, waiting for no following, and burning at once all bridges of
compromise or surrender. Thenceforth he devoted himself enthusiastically and
unsparingly to the success of the Union arms. His words of cheer and counsel on
many a public occasion, his untiring efforts in the enlistment of the soldiers
and the care of their families, and his conspicuous services as Lieutenant
Governor during the four years of the war, have linked his name with the
imperishable memories of that heroic struggle, and constitute his worthiest
claim to remembrance among the public men of his time.

After the war his participation in public affairs and the care of private
trusts prevented that devotion to strictly legal studies and pursuits so
essential to the highest success in his profession. His interest however in
everything tending to its purity and welfare remained unabated. He was one of
organizers of the American Bar Association, and as active participant in its
proceedings up to the year of his death. He was for several years acting
chairman of the bar of his county. A good parliamentarian, prompt, decided, and
dignified, he was often chosen to preside in public assemblages.

His domestic life was one of almost unbroken felicity, as son, brother,
husband, and father. He married in October, 1844, Maria D. White, of Danbury,
who died in February, 1860 leaving four children now living, his sons following
their father's profession. In September, 1861, he married Mary A. Perry, of
Southport, who survives him.

He died at Danbury, December 9th, 1883, at the ripe age of seventy-four,
untouched by the infirmities of old age. At seventy he had the erect form and
ruddy look that characterized him at sixty.

His life had been one of such perfect health that the last year's confinement
from heart disease and his long struggle with the inevitable tried his courage
and resignation to the utmost. "But," to use the words of his neighbor and
pastor, "he became at last wholly resigned to the Divine will, and the Christian
hope sustained his last hours." For the last twenty years of his life he was an
active and faithful member of the Congregational church of his fathers, and an
unfailing attendant on its ministrations.

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